Ambulance service release new training videos following ten-year-old's death

Working closely with the Burns family, SWASFT aim to raise awareness of SUDEP.

Charlie, from Larkhill, had his first seizure on October 7, 2011.

But on being attended by an ambulance crew, he was misdiagnosed with a febrile convulsion and allowed to go home.

Unhappy with the situation, Charlie's dad Baz took him to see their GP, who then suggested he might be suffering from nocturnal epilepsy and referred him to a neurologist.

Tragically, four days after the first seizure, and before his scheduled appointment with the neurologist, Charlie suffered a second and this time fatal seizure.

Mum Jan said: "It was an awful situation with Charlie and we want to turn that around in to something positive.

"The end result that we are hoping for, is that with these training videos, a significant number of lives are going to be saved."

The training package on SUDEP has been developed by SWASFT, working in tandem with the Burns family.

All SWASFT paramedics will be put through the training programme and the materials and training will also be available to other organisations.

SWASFT chief executive Ken Wenman said: "Following Charlie's sad death we wanted to take action, and make a real difference, but most importantly do something that could support the memory of Charlie.

"We have found a way forward by working closely with the Burns family, and we have now developed training videos and will adopt the training programme for all our paramedic staff."

Jan urged families to be vigilant, and watch out for any signs.

She said: "Epilepsy can and does kill, we didn't know our little boy had anything wrong with him as there were no neurological signs going on.

"The first we knew about it was when we called an ambulance, then four days later Charlie had a seizure that killed him.

"We want to make sure this doesn't happen to another family."